Apple Archive

Less Frequent Major OS X Uprades: Good or Bad for Mac Users?

- 2004.05.21

Apple has just announced that they will reduce the frequency of major Mac OS X updates. Perhaps they are responding to critics of the $129-per-copy pricing (and I still say that a discount is in order), or perhaps it's the software developers who are complaining.

Regardless, this is both good and bad news for Mac users.

On the positive side, it gives Apple more time to work out the bugs in current versions of the Mac OS - the small security issues, as well as the extremely annoying hardware/software integration issues that the Mac OS sometimes has with newly released Apple hardware.

Having fewer OS updates also will allow third party developers to spend more time making sure their software is compatible with the current version of the OS. After that, instead of trying to make it compatible with a new version they can spend the extra time adding features and otherwise improving the product.

Another potential positive: Apple hardware will now be able to be up-to-date a little bit longer. Since newer versions of the Mac OS often drop some hardware (10.0 dropped pre-G3 Macs, and 10.3 dropped the beige G3s and WallStreet PowerBooks), if the Mac OS is updated less frequently, older hardware will remain in use with current OS for longer.

There is, however, still no word of a discount for people who have upgraded OS X in the past. Many have spent hundreds of dollars on Mac OS X software updates - and what do they get now? Fewer updates, but at the same cost. Perhaps it's more affordable, but don't forget, the updates aren't yearly like they used to be.

There's always the possibility of being behind when it comes to features. If something new comes out in Longhorn that Apple doesn't immediately add to its OS, people will be very quick to say, "You can do this in Windows, but you can't on a Mac." Fast user switching was an example of this: XP has had it since it's release in 2001; it took Apple two years to add it to OS X.

I guess it really remains to be seen what effect, if any, Apple's announcement will have on consumers, software developers, and even Apple itself. My guess is that it will ultimately lead to a more secure, less buggy Mac OS because Apple will be able to do more product testing before the software's final release.

As much as I love seeing new Apple software (and especially OS X) releases, what I really like is when that software is for the most part bug-free, reliable, and useable right away - unlike, for example, Mac OS X 10.0. Other consumers appreciate this, too. It means fewer updates for them to install (especially those wonderful, 60 MB updates that seeming to take forever to download even on a broadband connection), and less for them to worry about from day one.

And wasn't security supposed to be one of the Mac advantages to begin with?

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